Cincinnati Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 23, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 489 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of CINCINNATI INDUSTRIES, INC., EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F.
OF L., PETITIONER
In the Matter of CINCINNATI INDUSTRIES, INC., EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN & OILERS, LOCAL No. 49, A. F.
OF L., PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 9-RC-377 and 9-RC-395, respectively.Decided June 03,
19 .1,q
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in the above-consoli-
dated cases was held before Harold V. Carey, hearing officer. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing, the Employer moved
to dismiss the petition filed herein in Case No. 9-RC-395, on the basis
that the unit sought therein is inappropriate. The Employer's motion
to dismiss will be considered hereinafter.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner in Case No. 9-RC-377, herein called the UAW,
the Petitioner in Case No. 9-RC-395, herein called the Brotherhood,
and Textile Workers' of America, CIO, Local No. 210, herein called
the Intervenor, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question of representation affecting commerce exists concern-
ing certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
84 N. L. R. B., No. 61.
489
490 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives :
The UAW seeks a unit composed of all production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's Cincinnati, Ohio, plant, which unit is
substantially the same as the one presently being bargained for by the
Intervenor.' The Brotherhood seeks to sever from the existing pro-
duction and maintenance unit all firemen and maintenance mill-
wrights.2 The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the unit
requested by the Brotherhood is inappropriate. As already noted,
there is a long history of collective bargaining at the Employer's plant
on a plant-wide basis.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of crepe pipers, plastic
parts, simulated leather, and other similar products. The operations
of its Cincinnati plant are carried on in various departments, each
of which is under the supervision of a foreman. The maintenance
department is likewise under the supervision of a foreman, and is
composed of maintenance and powerhouse employees. The mainte-
nance employees consist of two group leaders,3 one electrician, one
sewing machine mechanic, and eight general maintenance men. The
electrician and the sewing machine mechanic perform the usual duties
required of their particular classifications. The general maintenance
men, among other things, perform millwright work, pipefitting, weld-
ing, and carpenter work. The powerhouse employees consist of three
licensed firemen, one licensed relief fireman, and three unlicensed
helpers, all of whole are also under the supervision of the maintenance
department foreman.4 The firemen spend the majority of their work-
time in the performance of the customary powerhouse duties, but when
working on the second and third shifts, they spend about a third of
their time touring the plant as watchmen. There are three firemen
helpers, two of whom work 4 hours of each 8-hour day in the boiler
room. During the remainder of each day they serve as plant janitor
and yardman, respectively. The third helper is employed for only 4
hours a day, all of which time he spends in the boiler room. The
duties of these helpers, when working in the boiler room, are to supply
fuel and remove ashes. There is no training or apprentice program
for them.
About 15 percent of the worktime of the general maintenance em-
ployees is spent in a maintenance shop, which is adjacent to the boiler
1 The Intervenor has represented, under contract with the Employer, all of the produc-
tion and maintenance employees at the plant since 1937. The most recent contract was
renewed, as of April 1, 1949, until April 1, 1950.
2 At the hearing, the Brotherhood stated that its petition was intended to include all
employees in the power plant and all employees in the maintenance' department
3 At the hearing , the parties agreed that these group leaders are not supervisory employees.,
4 During the time that two of the firemen helpers work as plant janitor and yardman,
they are under the supervision of the shipping and receiving department foreman.
CINCINNATI INDUSTRIES; INC. 491
room, but which is separated therefrom by a doorway and a flight of
steps. The remainder of their worktime is spent throughout the plant
in repairing production machinery and equipment. Only a small
percentage of their worktime is spent in maintaining the boiler room.
On the third shift, while the general maintenance employees are off
duty, the production employees sometimes are called upon to do small
maintenance jobs. Also, the production employees occasionally are
scheduled to work with the maintenance men on week ends and during
vacation periods. Maintenance, powerhouse, and production em-
ployees are all on the same pay roll, have the same recreation facilities,
participate in the same bonus plan, and to varying Jegrees enjoy plant-
wide seniority.
It appears that the Brotherhood seeks to sever the maintenance
department, which includes powerhouse employees, from the existing
production and maintenance unit, which has been bargained for by
the Intervenor for more than, 10 years. Under the circumstances, and
in keeping with the Board's policy, we will not sever, on a depart-
mental basis, the maintenance employees sought herein, since there
has been a long, successful history of collective bargaining on a broader
basis.5 Nor will we sever such employees on a craft basis, since they
constitute a multicraft grouping which lacks the homogeneity and
cohesion requisite for severance.6 We therefore find that the unit
requested by the Brotherhood is inappropriate.7 Accordingly, we shall
grant'the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition filed herein in
Case No. 9-RC-395, and such petition is hereby dismissed.
There remains for consideration the appropriateness of the produc-
tion and maintenance unit requested by the UAW in Case No. 9-RC-
377. As the unit sought is substantially the same as that now being
bargained for by the Intervenor, and since no valid reason to the con-
trary appears, we find, in accordance with our usual practice, that
a plant-wide unit of production and maintenance employees is appro- '
priate. We find that the following employees constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, plant excluding office and clerical employees, confiden-
tial employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
6 See Matter of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, 78 N L It. B 478, wherein the Board refused
to sever the maintenance employees from an existing production and maintenance unit.
6 See Matter of Shell Chemical Corporation (Shell Point Plant), 79 N. L R B 35.
'' Matter of Rex Paper Company, 83 N L R B 265 ; Matter of The Borden Company,
83 N L. R B. 765 , wherein a grouping of employees similar to that requested herein was
found inappropriate
492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTION e
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Director for the Ninth Region, and subject to Sec-
tions 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 5, as amended, in the unit found appropriate in
paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but ex-
cluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled
to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining by International Union,
United Automobile Workers of America, A. F. of L., or by Textile
Workers' Union of America, CIO, Local No. 210,° or by neither.
9 Either participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to and
approval thereof by the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
The compliance status of Textile Workers' Union of America, CIO, Local No 210
has lapsed since the hearing in this matter. In the event it fails to renew its compliance
with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) within 2 weeks from the date of this Direction, the
Regional Director is instructed not to accord it a place on the ballot in the election directed
herein
AL